Getting ready for season four...

Finally installing my Walking Dead figures. New wave with Carl should be arriving any day!

Zombie Dark Thirty: World War Z

World War Z was a mighty troubled production. Extensive re-shoots, last minute rewrites, creative conflicts, release date bumps and a budget north of $190 million had pundits thinking this adaptation of Max Brooks’ zombie apocalypse saga would be an outright box office apocalypse of its own. The surprise is that producer/star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster (The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace) have delivered a pretty spectacularly entertaining movie. Like the hungry ghouls it depicts, World War Z came back from the dead.

The novel has less of a narrative through-line (there is no main character, per se) and reads more like a mosaic. Pitt was drawn to the project intent on using a genre picture “…as a Trojan horse for sociopolitical problems, and what would the effect on the world be if everything we knew was upside-down and pulled out from under us?” World War Z begins with an almost comedic succession of production company logos that threaten to go on forever – but the team that cut this movie knew what the hell they were doing. From almost the first shot, World War Z is a relentless exercise in tension.

The “Zekes” of World War Z are more reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later than the rotting ratings champs of The Walking Dead. These undead are infected with super-charged rabies, often moving in ferocious swarms. Pitt is a retired United Nations investigator who’s just trying to take care of his family when the zom-pocalypse busts loose – and bust loose it does, in spectacular fashion, as Pitt and his family are stuck in gridlock, quickly realizing that something very wrong is happening around them. His unique skill set gives him little choice but to join the team tasked with tracking down the original source of the pandemic, in the hope of finding a cure. The bulk of the film is an Outbreak-style virus thriller, globe-trotting to locations like South Korea and Israel like some kind of catastrophic Bond movie.

The film is full of incredible action sequences, stress and anxiety. Pitt’s in just about every scene and his resourcefulness carries the movie. Look for new Doctor Who Peter Capaldi as a W.H.O. Doctor, oddly enough. Original cinematographer Robert Richardson left the film near the end of principal photography to begin shooting Django Unchained – he later had his name removed from the film, unhappy at the conversion to 3-D against his wishes. By all accounts the third-act rewrite work by Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard very likely saved the picture and helped turn things around. The score by Marco Beltrami drives the feeling of chaos and combines with the editing of Roger Barton (The Grey) and Matt Chesse to deliver a mood of palpable dread and unease.

Production woes may have ruled the day, but this is a great looking and enthralling epic that seldom drags and is infinitely better than one might have expected. World War Z does a great job of considering the frayed tether of society and disease and letting us freak out at the prospect of it all coming unraveled. A must-rent.

Sorcerer: The greatest thriller you haven't seen

When William Friedkin's Sorcerer came out in 1977, it had some challenges finding an audience. It was released right around the same time as Star Wars, which became a global pop cultural phenomenon. Sorcerer - starring Roy Scheider - was a gritty existential thriller about four outcasts driving truckloads of explosive nitroglycerin over treacherous South American terrain. Loosely inspired by The Wages of Fear, Sorcerer was considered a disappointment. But like another failed picture of a similar vintage - Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate - Sorcerer has found a resurgence of critical acclaim, and is now considered an overlooked gem - if not an outright masterpiece. Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) considers the film his favorite, as well as the most challenging and personal film he ever made.The haunting electronic score by Tangerine Dream is remarkable. Co-produced by Paramount and Universal, Sorcerer was held up in lengthy legal disputes which have finally been resolved.

Friedkin has supervised a complete digital restoration of the film, premiering the new print last month at the Venice Film Festival. At long last, Sorcerer will arrive on blu-ray from Warner Brothers on April 14th, 2014, following a limited theatrical release. The disc will have audio commentary as well as extras.

Originally intended as a vehicle for Steve McQueen, Sorcerer is one of the last of the seventies classics, a victim of changing eras. The restoration and rediscovery of one of the most tense and suspenseful films of all time is going to be an incredible thrill.

"It's a Chopper, baby..."

How awesome is this?!? Those crazy cats at McFarlane Toys have gone and done it and will be releasing a 5" scale figure of badass icon Daryl Dixon with his beloved chopper. The vest has his stiched angel wings and the crossbow to boot! That's what I call a deluxe box set. This baby hits the road in March 2014.  

Hollywood lights up the night!

Have been dying to check out the Hollywood's new marquee at night, so on the way home from guitar class this evening, I finally got the chance - is that one heck of a double-feature or what? 

But if that's not enough for you, in vintage 1920s fashion, those lights move...hey, after all - they're moving pictures! Here's to The Hollywood lighting up the night for many years to come! Great work, gang!

Sons sixth season shocks - satisfies

Sons of Anarchy came blazing back last night in a 90-minute sixth season premiere that blew all the doors off. Creator Kurt Sutter is not a man who's afraid of shaking things up and rattling the cage. We were nearly 20 minutes into the mayhem before he even rolled the opening credits. Based on this first episode, we're in for a hell of a ride. The great Donal Logue is back and he's just killing it, messing with everybody. New addition Peter Weller promises to be a great new character - an ex cop turned gang boss who could either turn out to be an awesome ally or your worst nightmare. I'll try and stay a little vague for the benefit of those who've yet to see season five, but this looks to be a showcase year for Maggie Siff's Tara. Likewise, things aren't getting any easier for Tig. I lost count of "holy $hit" moments where something genuinely shocking happened - much of which I would be stunned by on HBO - FX has let Sutter off the chain, evidently the perk for delivering massive ratings and the most desirable of fan bases. If at some point you bailed on Sons (as I was tempted to) after their ham-fisted third season in Ireland, you owe it to yourself to get caught up, because they haven't had a misstep since. Can't wait to see where things go this year for the Charming lads - with talent like Logue and Weller in the mix, our beloved MC is in for one rough ride.

This batch blue enough for you?

Check out the awesome packaging that will deliver Breaking Bad - the complete series - when it comes out on blu-ray later this year. Plus you get a Hermanos Pollos apron?!? Light my fire, bitches!

A Marquee Rises! The Hollywood Part II

As we mentioned just a couple of weeks ago, The Hollywood Theater is in the midst of an historic installation of a brand new marquee - the proof is in the pudding! Pretty dazzling. I have not seen the marquee lit at night yet, though that should be happening very soon.

I wonder what the first movie will be to get its name in these magnificent new lights? Stay tuned!

Last call: The World's End

“You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” Truer words were never spoken – because sometimes the bars are ready to close, despite the fact that we’re still game for another round.

Comedic conspirators Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and director Edgar Wright began their giddy assault on our sensibilities with 2004’s undead opus, Shaun of the Dead. In 2007 they skewered the buddy-cop genre with Hot Fuzz and now they bring their “Cornetto” trilogy to a close with the daftly inspired sci-fi saga, The World’s End – it’s an intoxicating concept: Ne’er-do-well aging bad boy Gary King is determined to reunite the chums of his youth together to finally complete The Golden Mile – an epic pub crawl with a dozen stops – 12 pubs, 12 pints, culminating at a pub called “The World’s End.” Gary (Pegg, also cowriter with Wright) is stuck in the past and a raging alcoholic to boot – his friends have grown up, married, and taken respectable jobs at law firms, while Gary is still playing the loser-rebel. It’s shocking at first to see Nick Frost as the respectable, more humorless one, determined to stick to water for the evening. “A man of your legendary prowess? It’s like a lion eating hummus!”

After a slow start, the film picks up and dives into science fiction – surprisingly with not as many direct cinematic riffs as we’d previously seen in Shaun and Fuzz. Pegg and Wright deserve credit for changing the rhythms and expectations from the previous two outings, but the Pegg/Frost role-reversal lets some of the wind out of the sails. There’s a melancholy to Pegg’s boozy Peter Pan desperation to return to the glory days of the past. Not everything works, but the dialogue and jokes and exasperation of the characters more than makes up for it. I enjoyed the heck out of the movie, but I’m still not sure if it ranks as high as Shaun or Fuzz for me. I suspect it may benefit greatly from subsequent viewings. There’s no shortage of gags and I think I missed my fair share due to laughing so hard at others. There’s no question though that The World’s End is a fitting companion piece to Pegg and Wright’s previous films, all of which make use of genre conventions to satirize.

If you’re a fan of Pegg, Frost or Wright – or pubs, for that matter – you’re probably as presold as I was! You’re probably going to love The World’s End – and want to revisit it again. My hope is that this is in fact not the end of this fantastic team, and that this trio continues tapping fresh kegs for many years to come. Another round, if you please!